


Dunes

by KindnessMakesMeSmile



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 21:45:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17475524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KindnessMakesMeSmile/pseuds/KindnessMakesMeSmile
Summary: Rey is on the brink of death after scouting an enemy base, she needs to make it back to the resistance, but with no food or water her time is running out.





	Dunes

**Author's Note:**

> This is an unrated work as it stands with no archive warnings, things may change along the way so keep an eye on the tags. I'm pretty busy as a human so updates will be few and far between, if that's not for you maybe just hang on until I'm finished. I'm just giving this a go, be kind and I hope you enjoy.

I shouldn’t have been gone this long. I thought I’d be able to make it there and back in two days but things went wrong once I got there. Whoever tipped us off was clearly trying to use me to lead them back to our camp. Took me a day and a half to shake them in the end. 

I worry that they won’t let me in, they must think I’m dead anyway, hell I feel closer to death than I have in a long time.  
My feet stumble on regardless of how much my legs beg to collapse, and I feel myself leaning to one side making my head hang over the edge of the narrow path. My breath comes in short erratic bursts that stutter suddenly as I see the gaping abyss below me, a gash in the land just waiting to swallow me up. I fling my body upright and continue. 

I have to get there by sundown. I know I won’t last another night outside with no food or water, although the idea of death has it’s merits. It wouldn’t be painful, I could just lie down right here right now and my spirit would leak out of my body overnight. No more running, no more hunger or pain, sounds quite relaxing actually.

No, no they’re waiting for me, if I don’t tell them what I’ve seen then there’s no hope for any of us.

At that thought I get a burst of strength and begin a slow rambling jog. Dust kicks up under my feet and the sun beats down on my neck, I can feel it burning me, my first thought is that I’d make a crispy corpse. That’s the way the carrion birds like it, deep fat fried. 

I’ll send a message to the camp and they might just be stupid enough to send someone to get me. If they’re smart they’ll assume I’ve been taken and lay low for a few days.  
I cross over the canyon by a small rope bridge, it sways from side to side and I let the motion move me forward, the wooden planks creak beneath my feet and I hurry a little faster.  
I’m trying to take the most roundabout route possible, up until last night I was being chased, followed actually. The only reason I’ve gotten this far is because they want me to keep going, to show them where we are. I’m not going to let that happen if I can help it but they have a significant advantage over me already, they have horses, food, water and the training to track and hunt, people and animals alike. I don’t want to die so I’ll continue until the world sees fit to let me rest.  
I’m across the rope bridge and shimmy up a sun bleached tree trunk to get a better view of the path ahead of me, the landscape is breath taking, if only I had the time to admire it. Sand dunes and red cliffs are all that can be seen. The only colour here is the colour of the sand and sun, plant life is scarce, I’m getting closer. 

I hop out of the tree and land heavily nearly knocking the air from my lungs, this next bit is tricky and if I rush it I’m dead, too slow I’ll lose too much energy too quick and die, I have to be perfect or I have to double back and risk them finding me. A quick glance at the long road past the rope bridge behind me finishes that train of thought before it even starts. In the distant horizon I can see plumes of dusty sand and tiny figures on horseback. There are some things worse than death I think as I see them in the distance, decision made. 

I take out my water canteen and squeeze it for any water I might have somehow missed, it’s been empty for two days and it’s staying empty. All the more reason to carry on so. I stuff the empty canteen into the bag slung around my hips and stretch down until I touch my toes. I repeat the motion again and again, I twist my torso left and right and let the excercise bring energy rather than take it. Last but not least I pull the pendant hanging around my neck to my lips and murmur words not spoken aloud in years, just in case this all goes wrong. 

With nothing left to do and the figures in the distance only getting closer I have to begin now. I lie on my stomach and start to lower my legs down over the edge of the canyon, my feet find the grooves immediately and I let them take my weight before starting to inch my way down the cliff face. My body knows where to go, I’ve made this journey a thousand times but always with a rope, and always with a friend. Today I have neither of those with me. It takes the better half of the afternoon to reach the bottom, I have cuts across my hands and a particularly bad gash on the side of my face. My feet touch solid ground and I fall after them. I allow myelf a few moments to appreciate the fact that I’m not dead before dragging myself up and heading west. I’m almost there now, but a look at the sky tells me I don’t have long left before sundown. The sun is hidden suddenly as I enter the floor between two cliffs, the air is cooler here and plants grow sparsely near the edges of the stone walls that create a corridor in front of me. 

I go to the wall on my left and run my hand along it at head height until I feel it, a narrow gap, just big enough to fit my hand into if you go in at the right angle. I find the string and send my message. I pull the string three times quickly, then twice with beats between them. I keep my hand on the string waiting for a response...nothing...Good. So they’re smart and they probably assume that I’m lying in a ditch somewhere. I can only hope that I get there before they pack up completely. 

The sun is setting and I pick up the pace from my pathetic jog to as much of a run as I can handle. The canyon begins to narrow even more and after a few minutes I have to slow so I can squeeze between the walls of red stone either side of me, the fabric of my trousers catches on the sharp edges and tears through on my right knee, I feel warmth begin to flow down my leg and curse myself for taking this route. It’s the quickest way in and out though, and the hardest to track. That’s why they sent me in the first place, I’m one of the only ones small enough to fit through the gap but the only one with nothing to lose.

After a few tense moments of trying to contort myself into the smallest I can be I’m through the gap and I walk slowly now, lean heavily on my left leg as my vision starts to blur. It’s funny, on the outside of the gap there’s next to nothing, just sand and sun for days. Here there are trees and scrubs of grass littering the ground, like two different worlds. When we first arrived there were flowers but we haven’t been here long enough for them to be in season. It’s time to move on I think as I reach the entrance, it’s a pity. I would have liked to see those flowers again. 

I lower myself to the ground and search with my hands for what I’m looking for, just as I start to give up I feel it, the steady grain of wood beneath my fingertips. I knock on the well concealed hatch embedded in the earth and wait, praying that they’re still here and that I don’t pass out, that I get to deliver my message, but most of all, I’m praying that I don’t die alone. 

I hear a creak and hands are suddenly pulling me down into the earth, there’s a thud and all light is snuffed out as the hatch is pushed back into position. For a moment there are only whispers around me and I think I might be dead, then, the sound of a match being struck and light illuminates the narrow tunnel I’m currently collapsed in. Faces swim before me, they all look so worried, why are they worried? I open my mouth to tell them they should chill out, but before I can, I lose my breath and close my eyes. I’m dying I think distantly as I’m pulled into the velvety blackness....and then, there’s nothing.


End file.
